The security system beeped in affirmative as Kaitlyn swiped her card. Door opened inwards, and I pushed Billy in first, who was.. high I think? It had a lazy look on its decrepit face, only a zombie would love.

It lazily stood and wobbled in front of me before turning around and for the first time I thought I was crazy because I swear it was grinning in a goofy expression and looking at me.

“Is it..” I heard Kaitlyn start next to me.

“Thank god I’m not crazy..” I sighed in relief as she witnessed the same thing I did.. I think.

I turned to look at her. Her right eye was twitching and looking at Billy.

“He is high, I think.” I state and turn back to the matter at hand. No point questioning things beyond this.

My feet crossed the threshold into a small square room with a security checkpoint occupied by a rather wretched looking skinny guy in a security uniform.

The guy was in a fetal position on the ground, and very much alive, looking at us trough chicken wired security door with a face that would only be described as absolute terror.

I pushed billy aside and walked up to the security while the guy was pushing itself to the farthest corner of his box. The boy had this look of normalcy, with brown hair and green eyes.

“Good afternoon.” I start and rest my elbows on a counter on the checkpoint that had an operable window of security glass. I place Jason to lean against the box underneath the counter.

Leaning in, I flash the survivor a smile. I press the intercom button on the side.

“Doctor Jason here to leave early with Doctor Kaitlyn and a plus one. Where do we sign?” I say as I turn towards Kaitlyn, who was walking over. She had a certain guilty expression, like one would see on a child when they know they have done badly.

She waved at the security guard awkwardly and came to a stop next to me.

The guy had been staring at her since she walked in and as she came over, he warily stood up and walked over to the intercom on his side.

A crackle sounded out before the voice of the boy was heard.

“Doctor Hall, Is that you? Wha- what is going on? Are you like them.. but smarter an- and s-seductive?” The voice on the intercom asked, causing me to click my tongue in irritation.

Doctor Jason was not one to enjoy his long tenure of seniority, to be ignored by a mere security guard.

With a flex of authority and grace god given by my position here at the institution, I scrunched up my face and banged the glass with irritation while admonishing someone I assumed to be a new hire,

“Does she look like she wants to jump your bones and gnaw off your face imbecile?!” I screamed without using the intercom, just like a real arrogant prick.

He flinched by my assault on the glass but got his second wind seeing I was not able to phase through the secure installation.

Kaitlyn grabbed me and tried to drag me away from the small box housing a barely old enough inhabitant who, going by his face, balls seemingly just dropped due to the influx of testosterone given by the safety of his little cage.

I let her drag me away while holding my breath to make my face redden. Based on her face, she had no idea what went into me.

I like roleplay, sue me.

The intercom crackled again, showing his inexperience with handling it. “Doctor Hall, who are these two?”

I made a mock attempt to get free in response to those words, earning me a slight kick from Kaitlyn, who eyed me threateningly before heading over to the intercom.

“Hi Tom?” she asked with a gentle voice as I was busy massaging my leg. “Why are you still here?”

“Th-theres those thigs in the locker rooms.” The security guy responded and got real close and whispering into the intercom, “The possessed..”

“Have you been stuck here the whole time?” Kaitlyn asked through the intercom with an empathetic voice.

Tom nodded while tearing up.

“Oh Tom, you know the lounge was clear, right?” She soothed the crying boy.

“I saw it from the cameras.. But what if they’d come and possess me as well?” He sniffed “Then I saw you come in…” His eyes turned to me with an odd judgmental gaze. “I saw him feedig one of the possessed.”

“And you watched!” He screamed into the intercom strongly enough for the voice to distort. “You are a new kind of possessed, right? O-or cultist behind all this!”

I stopped massaging my leg and let my posture to straighten. No point in acting anymore.

“Tom, no we are not one of those things, you know zombies right?! We’re not zombies!” Kaitlyn begged the guy as he stepped back from the intercom. He merely looked over at Billy and then back towards Kaitlyn with a victorious face before returning to his corner and hugging his knees.

I walked over as she began to bang the window with indignation. She shot me a glare filled with blame as I came over.

“This is your fault.” She hissed at me.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone to still watch the cameras, so I ignored them.” I sigh while raising my hands. “I accept responsibility.”

She gawked at me like I was an idiot and swished her hands at Billy, the security box and me before shrugging at me, asking how the hell was I going to fix this.

She was quite peeved at me. Her outburst had left her hyperventilating.

I massaged my forehead with my finger as I engaged the intercom again.

“I believe reintroductions are in order. I’m Kaine Smith.” I said calmly while closing my eyes. “And believe me telling you there is no room for demons in my head.”

I open my eyes and see that I have his attention.

“Now, I’m going to insist on one way or another letting us tough. You may think demons possessing people is the worst of your concern, but I will slowly and meticulously carve you to pieces with a jagged edged plastic spoon I will bring from the break room in a minute and in front of you carving the edges.”

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He flinches at my words but stays in place, so I continue.

“I assure you with enough time and effort I will get inside your haven and the more effort I have to expend, the smaller parts I will carve out of you before cauterising the wound and redoing it in a different location.”

I twirl around with my arms extended and walk back and forth the intercom before engaging in dialogue again. “And trust me with the situation at hand, there will be no help arriving from the outside. I will have the time and motivation to fulfil my each word and then surpass them.”

I press my face against the glass and stare at him. “I will make you wish I was a mindless demon, and I won’t even give you an option to die.. Because once I’m done I will do what I did to that one but I will not let you become one of them.” I motion towards Billy.

“I will keep you, you.. And I will leash you up and walk you like a dog, except you’ll be a worm wiggling with no limbs.” I say and turn around and walk towards the lounge. I hear a beep of security and stumbling of footsteps before something hits the floor.

“Please sir! Don’t! I-I’ll be good!” I hear as something grasps my ankle. Glancing back, I see a snot filled face looking at me from the ground and holding my ankle. I pull myself loose as he falls down while still reaching for me with a shaking hand.

I kneel down to his level and look at him with a stoic face. His hands pat me gently in desperation after I pulled myself free. “Pl-eeaseee, I won’t stand in your way. I-I’ll be a good dog if you take me with you.. I know yo- master will get out. I know I was wrong! I-I was just so scared..”

Tears began to wetting the floor beneath his face,

“I just want to live.” He whispered with a desperate voice as I stoically kept looking at him.

I begin to wipe away his tears and allow myself to smile. He grasps my pants tightly and just keeps sobbing words of thanks.

“You’re such a monster..” I hear Kaitlyn mutter under her breath as she looks at me with a scared face.

I walk back into the lounge with the guy crawling behind me. Taking a seat on the sofa, I extend out a soda to him and motion him to sit.

“Eat and drink.” I say as I watch my new minion, who quenches his thirst with shaking hands. He didn’t even sit on one of the sofas but on to the floor next to the coffee table. He grabs some snacks from the table and I let him to his devices as I watch Kaitlyn joining us from the security room.

She leans against the doorframe and watches us with her hands crossed.

I imitate her outburst of hand gestures earlier and add a smug smile at the end before I open another pack of skittles.

She huffs and throws a pity filled gaze at the security guy. I ruffle his short brown hair, causing him to laugh awkwardly but do not react in any adverse way and continues to stuff him with snacks.

She shakes her head and comes over, clearly not thrilled how I treat my human but keeps her thoughts to herself and takes another energy drink from the table and sitting down on the sofa.

“You really didn’t eat or drink anything since yesterday?” She asks as she watches him satiate himself.

He stills and nods vigorously. “I was afraid they’d somehow get to me when I left, Mistress.” He stammers politely.

“M-mistress?” Kaitlyn stutters out and almost spilling her energy drink all over the sofa.

“Mistress is Master’s companion, right?” He asks confusedly, while tilting his head, causing me to laugh out.

“No Tom, you don’t need to call me mistress. Just call me Kaitlyn.”

He looks at my amused face looking back at him before turning back to Kaitlyn, “No.”

“B-but I’m not his mistress!” She exclaims while pointing at me.

“Master is in a good mood after I did so, I refuse.” He states confidently as I burst out laughing and ruffling his hair more.

I turn to Kaitlyn and say: “I like him.” Before adding, “But you can call her whatever you want.”

“Yes master.” He says as his head bobs back and forth under my care.

We let him eat his fill and gather the remaining food and drinks up to bring them with us. We earlier decided to leave most of it here to lighten the load, but we now had a porter with us. I was considering letting him be cannon fodder, but he’d not achieve much based on his willpower I have seen.

Moments later, we were through the checkpoint with a new member in tow. Remainder of the corridor stood before a door that led to the lockers.

We left the security corridor behind and entered another lobby with two doors for male and female on the opposite side of the door we came.

I took point and approached the door to the female lockers and listened.

Only silence. But it was not quite the regular silence. There was this tension in the heavy silence. Not audible, but a feeling I was familiar with while working. It might’ve just been me being tense, but the slight smell of stale blood emanating from behind the door was not.

I turned to the others and placed a finger over my lips and gestured with my head towards the door to let them know we were not alone. Kaitlyn tensed up, but Tom wasn’t fazed at all. Wearing an indifferent but eager face, he nodded reverently.

I stealthily creeped up the door to the male room and did the same. I heard a single pair of lazy barefoot steps echo in the room along with breathing. The kind one would have if they were having trouble to draw breath. The smell of blood wasn’t there, instead I smelled a slight musky smell of male. If there was blood there, it was being covered by this smell.

I closed my eyes and listened to the ominous tune of silence.

A dilemma on which path to take. These doors were not secured in any way . With no knowledge what’s behind those doors and the potential of having a path of retreat cut off was troubling.

I looked at Kaitlyn in askance and she nodded at the women’s door. I nodded in affirmative and creeped to the women’s locker. Best not agonise over what you did not know and let someone break the indecision.

I carefully opened the door, cursing under my breath as it opened inwards. The other door was probably the same, making the possibility of being caught in the middle with no way to go back high.

I quickly motioned Kaitlyn to keep her eyes on the other door and crept in to the locker room. I was greeted by a partitioning hall that led deeper in till it turned right. I crept slowly forward and listened to any changes as I made my way through the partition. I stalled before the turn and circled out in to the open so that I kept as much space between myself and the turn.

The partition opened up to the actual changing room with rows of lockers on both sides with some benches in the middle. At the end of the rows, I saw a sign for the showers.

But the most eye-catching thing was a half-naked body lying on the floor around halfway through the row, surrounded by a pool of dried blood. She had fallen and hit her head against a corner of the bench.

I checked my blind spots before moving towards the body, my weapon held high in preparation to strike. As I neared it the body began to twitch and rouse from whatever death state it had been, so I picked up speed and struck down.

It groaned heavily as my strike connected with its head, but glanced off. I slightly relaxed my hand and let the recoil take its course before tensing up again and striking again. This time I took my body mass with me in the swing as I swung Jason down like chopping wood.

I heard a sickening crunch. This time, the impact went through its skull, and it stayed down for good. I let my breath still and listened if my engagement brought with it any changes.

I heard hurried footsteps behind me, and I turned. The door slammed and moments later, Tom came from behind the partition while dragging Billy. Kaitlyn followed moments later.

“Something got agitated behind the men’s locker room. A lot of something.” She offered as she saw my bewildered look, telling her she ruined the stealth segment of the mission. She went past me and stepped over the corpse and went to one locker while rummaging through her purse.

I was about to ask, but got my answer as I heard a muffled crack coming from behind the partition. I grabbed a bench quickly and picked it up while rushing towards the partition.

At the end of the lockers and the partition there was a slight empty space, hopefully big enough to wedge a few benches between the partition and lockers to make a makeshift barricade. Very makeshift.

I got it almost in the space before it stopped from going in further. I just let hang in suspense and grabbed another bench. I heard banging echoing in this locker room, as that something was now at our door. It would take them longer to get through this one, but how much a door meant to be more of a gesture of privacy than any security would hold longer, I was not sure.

The other bench jammed in there with the sound of creaking as it scratched off the metal of the locker and dry wood from the other side.

I was already hearing cracks as I turned back to the rest and jogged to them. “No time for more, time to get out!” I yelled over the groans and banging coming from behind me.

A loud crack strung out as I grabbed Kaitlyn by her scruff and led her away from her locker. We turned to the opposite side of the shower sign just to see in the corner of the eye as a group of male zombies invaded this sacred sanctuary.

The sturdy benches halted their approach as they reached for us through the gaps. With luck, the barricade had been just high enough for them to not to just fall over it.

I could already hear the benches screaming over the strain put against them as the invader had no self-preservation and kept pushing. We turned the corner and heard not a crack, but a wet squelch from behind us.

We slammed into another corridor. There were 4 shamblers already moving towards us as we rushed in. I let go of Kaitlyn’s scruff and kept going. I heard the door close behind me as I charged into the closest. A heavy chested office lady with an acute case of undead. Half of her left arm had been gnawed off, bits of bone and sinew were visible underneath the murky red of her flesh. She went down from the impact and I used her face as a launch pad to jump up.

I felt her face cave in underneath my shoes as I leaped towards the second with Jason raised high.

As I descended, I took a slight sideways swing, striking from the right and hitting her left side of the head. She reeled back from the impact and the recoil propped me to the right.

I let go of Jason while still mid-air as I didn’t have time to manipulate the weapon for another strike, instead I elbowed the third in her jaw and she fell from the impact, striking her backwards.

The fourth was still some distance away due to having one ankle completely broken and twisted. She appeared to have worn high heels that now had both tips broken.

I rushed at the fourth, not wanting to be in proximity of the tree. I merely slid over to her and swept her legs underneath her. I heard a stab behind me and saw Kaitlyn stabbing one of them in to the neck with her spear. She missed the spine, so it was still up but contained. I sprinted over to the main group.

I kicked the third one in the head with my heel and felt it go in slightly.

A grab came in my way and I shifted sideways and lowered myself to pickup my weapon and struck up at the second zombie, hitting it below the chin and staggering it. I got up along with the swing and continued the first strike with a heavy sideways swing that ended it.

I glanced over at the fourth and saw it crawling towards us slowly, so I struck at the back of the last zombie in the trio who had been impaled, ending it as well.

“Lets go!” I urged the others as I took off as soon as I struck the impaled one down. I swung the weapon like a golf club as I reached the prone zombie and broke its spine.

I kicked open the door as I hear a strong tap coming behind us.

And with that we reached outside and into the outer perimeter of the facility.